This sis Realy Getting Sickening

[beaglegod]

Sorry to vent here guys but I just have too. After 9 days since last offering Plissken (my BP) any food I just offered a tiney mouse ,nice and warm, plus I had a realy warm small rat scented and ready to feed should he take it , and to no avail this makes 20 days since his last feed, I just cant get him to eat. The room is quiet , the temps are perfect, the humidity is perfect, I havent handled him more than once in 9 days , and still no feeding response. If anybody has any suggestions please feel free to share.

[marisa]

Smaller enclosures have helped mine all eat.

By small I mean SMALL. Like the python itself takes up 1/4 of the enclosure. Also dark. Covering 75% or more with a towel helps lots of picky or nervous snakes feed.

You say you haven't handled him more than once in 9 days, I say do not handle him even once for another week after making sure his enclosure is small dark and secure. After he eats successfully a few times you can normally easily move them into normal sized housing and get feedings. Again this is in my meager experiences and from learning about Ball Pythons normal behaviour. They come from dark pre dug holes and spend majority of their time there thats why a tiny enclosure thats dark and conceled (sp) can help out in some cases.

Marisa

[jparker1167]

i have the same prob with one of my bp's, i put her in a smaller cage with a rat prekilled and leave her alone for about 2 hours and its gone when i come back in hope this helps im sure some people with more experience will give you some better suggestions hope this helps good luck

[Piers]

When your ballpython won't eat for 5 months like my albino male did last summer then you can stress out!
B.P.s are known to go off food for long piriods of time, heck I've got a couple of males that haven't eaten in almost a year!
As long as its got good body weight its fine,when it start to eat, feed as ofton as possible.
Guppyranch

[elevation24]

Personally I would try live for now.

[beaglegod]

As far as his enclosure size is concerned, its 30"long and hes 23"long, hes got 3 hides to choose from. He ate like a champ for 6 weeks straight,one lrge F/T mouse per week. I noticed however that week by week he seemed a little less eager to eat. The first feeding he struck and wrapped around his food within seconds,by the last time he ate,I had to leave his food inside his cage with the lights out. So its been a gradual decline. I guess what troubles me most is that hes only 7 months old at the most (hatched sometime in september) and I thought he would feed regularly until he matured a little more,and put on a little more size.:confused:

[sapphire_moon]

why would he do that? lol. Both my female bp and my male bp went off feed november 25th "03" The female will take mice. The male has eaten 2 times. But refuses most meals. Why? Because bps like to watch us owners run around pulling out our hair trying to get them to eat. lol.

[Vengeance]

Originally posted by elevation24
Personally I would try live for now.

I think 20 days is a little soon to start with live feeding.

My Ball which is still under a year old went off feed for a month. But he went back on after, he'll eat when he's ready, unless you are seeing weight loss then I woldn't worry about it.

[daver676]

My 6 month old BP (at the time) went off food on Nov 5, 2003 and didn't start eating again until the begininng of February.

It took a live mouse to get her feeding again, but I waited for over 2 months, and this was not a fat snake to begin with. As soon as she started acting different, that is when I started to worry. By different, I mean she would usually cruise around her cage for a good hour or so around the same time every night, and then she just stopped and didn't come out of her hide for 2 weeks. Finally I said screw it, I don't want to wait until she is too week to eat anything, so I tried a small live adult mouse, and she took it. SHe was eating f/t beofre she went into her fast as well. I'm currently in the process of getting her off live and over to f/t rats. Feeding live is dangerous, and I've already had a few close calls with bites. The sooner she is on f/t again, the better.

[Tim_Cranwill]

While 20 days between meals might stress YOU out, he's just fine. Don't stress about it too much. Offer him food every 10-14 days and eventually he'll eat again.

[beaglegod]

Realy appreciate everyones response. I definitely needed to hear those comments, Ill be sure to keep you guys posted as to how the next attempt go's. ;)

[mykee]

I've noticed that male bp's are harder eaters than females, this may just be my experiences, but my males stress me out WAY more than my females do. With regards to him no eating, I wouldn't worry, 20 days is a drop in the bucket. You'll have to learn not to stress the little things if you plan on owning your ball for a long time, and still have your hair at the end of it all.

[Linds]

Check and re-check your husbandry and everything else. If all is well and your snake seems otherwise healthy, don't sweat it. Although they don't usually fast much in their first year, it isn't unheard of by any means. Don't let it stress you out. Think of it as a means to save a few $$ :p It's when they begin losing weight and all that it raises cause for concern. One thing people need to realize is that balls eat when balls want, often this is not when we wish they would however. We need to trust our snakes more.

[mykee]

Linds; I beg to differ, I have 6 balls that are less than year old, and 5 of them have not eaten since early December. Maybe I'm one of the lucky few who bucks all the rules......lucky $%&@*#@ me!!

[Jeff_Favelle]

Is it just me, or was the title of this thread a little over the top?? LOL!

[elevation24]

Originally posted by Vengeance
I think 20 days is a little soon to start with live feeding.

My Ball which is still under a year old went off feed for a month. But he went back on after, he'll eat when he's ready, unless you are seeing weight loss then I woldn't worry about it.

That's fine, but I don't see a problem with live feeding (responsibly, of course) and thus I do not avoid it like the plague or use it as a "last resort" like many people do. So if he's very worried about his ball not eating for 20 days (which he shouldn't be so concerned about just yet, as others have pointed out), he may wish to try to offer a live restrained mouse.

I generally prefer F/T as well, but typically from what I have seen, the feeding response of balls is so much greater with live prey. Sometimes I am just amazed at how quick they are when they are offered live prey as opposed to F/T. And sometimes it is the only thing that works to get them eating again (that may or may not be the case here, but it's likely too early to make that determination). Just my opinion :)

[scalawag]

I agree with previous opinions, 20 days is nothing... You said he ate for 6 straight weeks and is very young. When was the last time he shed. Are the eyes opaque? Just pour a cold beer and relax. Welcome to the wonderful world of balls!!!